Some vanity plate requests push boundaries of good taste

Michelle Menefee likes to show her support for the fight against breast cancer by driving a pink and white car with the personalized license plate 4AKUR?

"I had an aunt that had breast cancer, and she's been dead several years now," Menefee said.

The personalized plate and her car get attention and spark conversations with strangers about breast cancer awareness. But for all the attention she gets, it's probably not nearly as much as she would have gotten if her initial personalize plate request had gone through.

Menefee requested TATA but says she was turned down by the state because "they said it was offensive."

Menefee is not alone. Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana have clear rules about what can and cannot be part of a personalized license plate request, but that doesn't stop people from pushing the limits of good taste.

The license agencies of all three states maintain lists of permanently banned plates, and work to review plate requests before they are approved to screen for offensive material.

Personalized plates often tell a story; from a name to a creative saying, there is a reason behind every plate.

Daniel Hof is a military veteran who received a Purple Heart after being wounded in Iraq. His personalized plate, IED, is short for improvised explosive device.

"When I was in Iraq in 2005, my job was to look for roadside bombs and disable them, and I was wounded by one of them," Hof said. The combination of the IED letters on his special Purple Heart tag issued by the state of Ohio causes some people to stop him and thank him for his service, he said.

A check of the banned plate lists in all three states shows that many people make requests that are more sophomoric than heroic. You can quickly see that if the plate references a body part, bodily function or a sex act, someone has probably requested it on a license plate.

Obviously offensive words are banned, along with profanity, but states draw the line on plates like FORPLAY or EROTIC, too.

Plates that suggest violence are not allowed either, explaining why requests like KILLER or ASSASIN have been rejected.

Some plate requests just seem like bad ideas. COPSUX, DUI, DRUNK and COCANE are all on the permanently banned lists. States also watch for plates that get too political, rejecting 4OBAMA, NOGOP and H8OBAMA requests.

States draw the line at plates that promote illegal behavior or are likely to incite people to violence, but even with guidelines in place, licensing agencies must still review plates looking for any words, sayings or coded messages that could break the rules and make it through.

Personalized plates cost between $25 and $50, and the effort to check every request doesn't cost taxpayers anything extra because the folks double-checking those requests already work for the state.

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